Hey. It’s Bob Negen. And in this episode of Real Retail TV, we’re going to explore the best ways to deal with economic uncertainty.

But before we begin, I would love to invite you to Retail Recharge. It’s happening April second at one PM eastern, and it’s gonna be a wonderful blend of positive news, mindset techniques.

Susan and I are going to do a retail rumble where we’re going to battle with retail ideas. So you’ll get a lot of ideas and inspiration, and you’re gonna get a sneak peek for this year’s virtual retail success summit. We would love to see you there. There is a link down below.

Economic uncertainty.

It’s here. It’s real. Now the only question is is what are you gonna do about it? The Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle said, no pressure, no diamonds.

And it’s true. No pressure, no diamonds. So right now, economic uncertainty, pressure. And so the question becomes, what are you going to do with the pressure? Are you gonna let the pressure break you, or are you gonna let the pressure make you? Is the pressure going to crush you, or are you going to become a diamond?

This is the essential question. And the the beautiful thing is the choice is yours.

You get to choose whether you’re going to be brave, be courageous, your or are you going to become fearful?

Fear and optimism are contagious both internally and externally.

So let’s talk about this. Fear.

So fear internally shows up as stress. It shows up as anxiety.

It manifests itself as inaction, as in you can’t do anything. You’re paralyzed by fear. Platinum Mastermind group member Ryan Matthews calls it the doom train. And isn’t that a great term?

And when the doom train leaves the station, it’s hard to reel it back in. So when you become afraid, when fear is the way that you’re operating, you don’t make good choices. You don’t move forward. You don’t do the things you need to do when times are uncertain.

Now that’s internally.

Externally, fear shows up this way. You’re afraid. You’re stressed out. You’re not dealing with the fear in a positive optimistic way.

And guess what? Your team feels it. Your team senses it. The vibe on your team becomes fearful.

And guess what?

When your team is fearful, when your team is stressed out, that vibe translates and and manifests itself in the kind of experience your customers get. It’s contagious. It’s contagious in you. It grows. If not taken care of, it’s contagious with your team.

It’s a bad deal. Now let’s talk about optimism. Optimism, courage, courage and optimism. I’m gonna kind they’re different, but I’m gonna use them interchangeably here, both internally and externally.

When you are brave, guess what?

You feel better, your team feels your optimism, and your team, when they go out on the floor, that vibe finds its way onto the floor. And your customers, they wanna feel good. When people go into an independent store, independent retail store, they want to feel good. They want the vibe in your store. You want the vibe in your store to be positive, to be uplifting, to be fun. And that is again, they are both contagious.

So recognize this, that optimism can be nurtured, and optimism starts with courage.

And so here’s the thing. When you are brave, when you make the decision and, again, it’s your choice. When you make the decision to be brave, when you make the decision to do the things that you need to do, that muscle gets stronger. Because whenever you show courage, whenever you step whenever you do something that might be uncomfortable, or even if you do something that’s comfortable, whenever you do thump something, whenever you respond to stress with action, you become more confident.

And it’s a loop, isn’t it? Susan calls it an upward spiral of prosperity. I like that even better because every time that you show courage and step outside of your comfort zone and do something, you become more confident. And as you become more confident, you become more courageous. And as you become more courageous, you try new things. It’s that upward spiral of courage and confidence.

The other thing about confidence that’s so important is the more confident you become, the more immune to failure that you become. So that when you try something and it doesn’t work, it doesn’t knock you down. It doesn’t knock you back. You treat it as a lesson learned.

And this is the way that you grow. You see, when times it’s easy to be good when times are good. It’s easy to be successful when times are are good. But when times are uncertain, this is when you earn your stripes.

This is when you do the things you need to do. Assuming you wanna be a diamond and you don’t wanna get crushed, you do the things you need to do to get to where you want to go.

Say that again. You do the things you need to do.

And as you do that, all of the habits that you, pick up here, all of the things that you do in react in reaction to the uncertainty become part of your makeup as a leader, as a retailer when times are good. So bad times make you good. So let me say it again. Bad times make you good.

So don’t be afraid right now for crying out loud. You made it through COVID. You can make it through this. Yes.

Times are uncertain. But ask yourself ask yourself right now, am I being fearful or am I being courageous and optimistic?

If you’re being fearful, ask yourself, what are you being afraid of? What are you worrying about? And then ask yourself, what can you do? You know, this idea of always respond to stress with with action is so important. Let me give you a quick tip. So going live on social media, it costs zero.

It is a wonderful way for you to get in front of your customers.

It’s a wonderful way for you to show your personality.

It’s a wonderful way to, you know, really step out as a local brick and mortar retailer.

But a lot of people are afraid to get on camera. It’s outside of their comfort zone.

So the first time you go live on social media, you might make mistakes. You might be so nervous that you’re sweating. Your makeup might, you know, might run. I don’t know what’s gonna happen.

It never goes perfect the first time, but you’ve shown the courage. And when you show the courage and you start to see some results, now you become more confident. And very soon, you feel totally com comfortable. You feel totally confident.

You start to see opportunities to use social media live to, again, connect with your customers, to bring people into your store, to do something that makes you feel good, to do something that makes you feel more confident. So, again, ask yourself, what can I do? What’s a little outside of my comfort zone that I can do today, that I can do this week that’s gonna move me closer to being a more confident, capable leader?

What are the things that you can do to exercise that confidence and that optimism muscle? Ask yourself that thing. And then step outside of your comfort zone, do that thing, and watch your confidence grow.

So, again, you’ve got this. You’ve got this.

FDR said, was it FDR or Winston Churchill? Winston Churchill said, the only thing to fear is fear itself.

And it’s true. Yes.

Times are uncertain.

Yes. The economy is uncertain, but you have this. You have what it takes to get through this. You got through COVID. You’ll get through this. Do the work you need to do, and you’re going to be alright.

I promise.

And if you found this helpful, there’s gonna be a whole lot more of this and some really great tactical tips that you can use. April two, one o’clock, retail recharge. Hope to see you there.